Hybrid virtual machine configuration management

ABSTRACT

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method and technique for hybrid virtual machine configuration management is disclosed. The method includes: assigning to a first set of virtual resources associated with entitled resources of a virtual machine a first priority; assigning to a second set of virtual resources associated with the virtual machine a second priority lower than the first priority, wherein the first and seconds sets when combined exceed the entitled resources for the virtual machine; mapping the first set of virtual resources to a first physical resource of a pool of shared physical resources allocatable to the first and second sets of virtual resources, wherein the first physical resource comprises a desired affinity level to a second physical resource allocated to the virtual machine; and preferentially allocating the first physical resource to the first set of virtual resources.

BACKGROUND

System virtualization is a technology which can divide a single host(e.g., computer, server, etc.), into multiple parts, or partitions, eachrunning a separate instance, or image, of an operating system. Theinstances of the operating systems or partitions are separate, orisolated, from each other in some ways. For example, the partitions haveseparate file systems, separate users, separate applications, andseparate processes. However, the partitions may also share someresources of the host. For example, the partitions can share the memory,the kernel, the processors, the hard drives, and/or other software,firmware, and/or hardware of the host. Thus, each partition or instanceof the operating system can look and feel like a separate server ormachine from the perspective of its users. These instances are commonlyreferred to as “virtual” or “virtualized” machine, and each partitionmay be referred to as a logical partition (LPAR).

One server or data processing system can generally host a number ofLPARs. These LPARs generally have virtual resources assigned to them(e.g., virtual processors) which provide an abstraction of the physicalresource from which it is based (e.g., the physical processor). Forexample, a virtual resource may be considered a logical entity that isbacked up by the physical entity. In a dedicated mode of LPAR operation,physical resources are assigned as a whole to an LPAR such that theassigned physical resources are not shared by other LPARs. In a sharedmode of LPAR operation, the physical resources are part of a pool ofresources which are shared among the LPARs. Additionally, LPARs can beconfigured to have a certain entitlement capacity representing aguaranteed physical resource capacity for the LPAR. LPARs may also beconfigured as capped or uncapped. In a capped mode, the resourcecapacity for the LPAR is capped at some value (e.g., its entitlementcapacity). In an uncapped mode, the LPAR can exceed its entitlementcapacity when other shared resources are available.

BRIEF SUMMARY

According to one aspect of the present disclosure a method and techniquefor hybrid virtual machine configuration management is disclosed. Themethod includes: assigning to a first set of virtual resourcesassociated with entitled resources of a virtual machine a firstpriority; assigning to a second set of virtual resources associated withthe virtual machine a second priority lower than the first priority,wherein the first and seconds sets when combined exceed the entitledresources for the virtual machine; mapping the first set of virtualresources to a first physical resource of a pool of shared physicalresources allocatable to the first and second sets of virtual resources,wherein the first physical resource comprises a desired affinity levelto a second physical resource allocated to the virtual machine; andpreferentially allocating the first physical resource to the first setof virtual resources.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present application, theobjects and advantages thereof, reference is now made to the followingdescriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is an embodiment of a network of data processing systems in whichthe illustrative embodiments of the present disclosure may beimplemented;

FIG. 2 is an embodiment of a data processing system in which theillustrative embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a data processingsystem for hybrid virtual machine configuration management in whichillustrative embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method forhybrid virtual machine configuration management according to the presentdisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method, system andcomputer program product for hybrid virtual machine configurationmanagement. For example, in some embodiments, the method and techniqueincludes: assigning to a first set of virtual resources associated withentitled resources of a virtual machine a first priority; assigning to asecond set of virtual resources associated with the virtual machine asecond priority lower than the first priority, wherein the first andseconds sets when combined exceed the entitled resources for the virtualmachine; mapping the first set of virtual resources to a first physicalresource of a pool of shared physical resources allocatable to the firstand second sets of virtual resources, wherein the first physicalresource comprises a desired affinity level to a second physicalresource allocated to the virtual machine; and preferentially allocatingthe first physical resource to the first set of virtual resources.Embodiments of the present disclosure enable better affinity levels tobe maintained to physical resources in a shared resource poolenvironment. Embodiments of the present disclosure utilize aprioritization scheme to assign a higher priority to entitlement virtualresources than to virtual resources utilizing uncapped excess resourcesof the pool. Physical resources having a desired or greatest affinitylevel to a physical resource of interest are mapped to the high priorityvirtual resources. In response to the dispatch of a high priorityvirtual resource, a physical resource allocation preference is given tothe high priority virtual resource over a virtual resource that may beutilizing the mapped physical resource in an uncapped, shared mode.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentdisclosure may be embodied as a system, method or computer programproduct. Accordingly, aspects of the present disclosure may take theform of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.”Furthermore, aspects of the present disclosure may take the form of acomputer program product embodied in one or more computer readablemedium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

Any combination of one or more computer usable or computer readablemedium(s) may be utilized. The computer readable medium may be acomputer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. Acomputer readable storage medium may be, for example but not limited to,an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, orsemiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combinationof the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of thecomputer readable storage medium would include the following: anelectrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computerdiskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory(ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flashmemory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory(CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or anysuitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document,a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that cancontain, or store a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus or device.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to,electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. Acomputer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium thatis not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate,propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmittedusing any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless,wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination ofthe foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent disclosure may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional proceduralprogramming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similarprogramming languages. The program code may execute entirely on theuser's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alonesoftware package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remotecomputer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latterscenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computerthrough any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or awide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an externalcomputer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet ServiceProvider).

Aspects of the present disclosure are described below with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of thedisclosure. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable medium that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide processes for implementing the functions/actsspecified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

With reference now to the Figures and in particular with reference toFIGS. 1-2, exemplary diagrams of data processing environments areprovided in which illustrative embodiments of the present disclosure maybe implemented. It should be appreciated that FIGS. 1-2 are onlyexemplary and are not intended to assert or imply any limitation withregard to the environments in which different embodiments may beimplemented. Many modifications to the depicted environments may bemade.

FIG. 1 is a pictorial representation of a network of data processingsystems in which illustrative embodiments of the present disclosure maybe implemented. Network data processing system 100 is a network ofcomputers in which the illustrative embodiments of the presentdisclosure may be implemented. Network data processing system 100contains network 130, which is the medium used to provide communicationslinks between various devices and computers connected together withinnetwork data processing system 100. Network 130 may include connections,such as wire, wireless communication links, or fiber optic cables.

In some embodiments, server 140 and server 150 connect to network 130along with data store 160. Server 140 and server 150 may be, forexample, IBM® Power Systems™ servers. In addition, clients 110 and 120connect to network 130. Clients 110 and 120 may be, for example,personal computers or network computers. In the depicted example, server140 provides data and/or services such as, but not limited to, datafiles, operating system images, and applications to clients 110 and 120.Network data processing system 100 may include additional servers,clients, and other devices.

In the depicted example, network data processing system 100 is theInternet with network 130 representing a worldwide collection ofnetworks and gateways that use the Transmission ControlProtocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) suite of protocols to communicatewith one another. At the heart of the Internet is a backbone ofhigh-speed data communication lines between major nodes or hostcomputers, consisting of thousands of commercial, governmental,educational and other computer systems that route data and messages. Ofcourse, network data processing system 100 also may be implemented as anumber of different types of networks, such as for example, an intranet,a local area network (LAN), or a wide area network (WAN). FIG. 1 isintended as an example, and not as an architectural limitation for thedifferent illustrative embodiments.

FIG. 2 is an embodiment of a data processing system 200 such as, but notlimited to, client 110 and/or server 140 in which an embodiment of asystem for hybrid virtual machine configuration management according tothe present disclosure may be implemented. In this embodiment, dataprocessing system 200 includes a bus or communications fabric 202, whichprovides communications between processor unit 204, memory 206,persistent storage 208, communications unit 210, input/output (I/O) unit212, and display 214.

Processor unit 204 serves to execute instructions for software that maybe loaded into memory 206. Processor unit 204 may be a set of one ormore processors or may be a multi-processor core, depending on theparticular implementation. Further, processor unit 204 may beimplemented using one or more heterogeneous processor systems in which amain processor is present with secondary processors on a single chip. Asanother illustrative example, processor unit 204 may be a symmetricmulti-processor system containing multiple processors of the same type.

In some embodiments, memory 206 may be a random access memory or anyother suitable volatile or non-volatile storage device. Persistentstorage 208 may take various forms depending on the particularimplementation. For example, persistent storage 208 may contain one ormore components or devices. Persistent storage 208 may be a hard drive,a flash memory, a rewritable optical disk, a rewritable magnetic tape,or some combination of the above. The media used by persistent storage208 also may be removable such as, but not limited to, a removable harddrive.

Communications unit 210 provides for communications with other dataprocessing systems or devices. In these examples, communications unit210 is a network interface card. Modems, cable modem and Ethernet cardsare just a few of the currently available types of network interfaceadapters. Communications unit 210 may provide communications through theuse of either or both physical and wireless communications links.

Input/output unit 212 enables input and output of data with otherdevices that may be connected to data processing system 200. In someembodiments, input/output unit 212 may provide a connection for userinput through a keyboard and mouse. Further, input/output unit 212 maysend output to a printer. Display 214 provides a mechanism to displayinformation to a user.

Instructions for the operating system and applications or programs arelocated on persistent storage 208. These instructions may be loaded intomemory 206 for execution by processor unit 204. The processes of thedifferent embodiments may be performed by processor unit 204 usingcomputer implemented instructions, which may be located in a memory,such as memory 206. These instructions are referred to as program code,computer usable program code, or computer readable program code that maybe read and executed by a processor in processor unit 204. The programcode in the different embodiments may be embodied on different physicalor tangible computer readable media, such as memory 206 or persistentstorage 208.

Program code 216 is located in a functional form on computer readablemedia 218 that is selectively removable and may be loaded onto ortransferred to data processing system 200 for execution by processorunit 204. Program code 216 and computer readable media 218 form computerprogram product 220 in these examples. In one example, computer readablemedia 218 may be in a tangible form, such as, for example, an optical ormagnetic disc that is inserted or placed into a drive or other devicethat is part of persistent storage 208 for transfer onto a storagedevice, such as a hard drive that is part of persistent storage 208. Ina tangible form, computer readable media 218 also may take the form of apersistent storage, such as a hard drive, a thumb drive, or a flashmemory that is connected to data processing system 200. The tangibleform of computer readable media 218 is also referred to as computerrecordable storage media. In some instances, computer readable media 218may not be removable.

Alternatively, program code 216 may be transferred to data processingsystem 200 from computer readable media 218 through a communicationslink to communications unit 210 and/or through a connection toinput/output unit 212. The communications link and/or the connection maybe physical or wireless in the illustrative examples.

The different components illustrated for data processing system 200 arenot meant to provide architectural limitations to the manner in whichdifferent embodiments may be implemented. The different illustrativeembodiments may be implemented in a data processing system includingcomponents in addition to or in place of those illustrated for dataprocessing system 200. Other components shown in FIG. 2 can be variedfrom the illustrative examples shown. For example, a storage device indata processing system 200 is any hardware apparatus that may storedata. Memory 206, persistent storage 208, and computer readable media218 are examples of storage devices in a tangible form.

FIG. 3 is an illustrative embodiment of a system 300 for hybrid virtualmachine configuration management. System 300 may be implemented on dataprocessing systems or platforms such as, but not limited to, servers 140and/or 150, clients 110 and/or 120, or at other data processing systemlocations. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, system 300 isapportioned into logical partitions (LPARs) or virtual machines that mayoperate independently, each LPAR running its own operating system andapplications. In the illustrated embodiment, system 300 includes amemory 310 having LPARs 312, 314, 316 and 318; however, it should beunderstood that a greater or fewer quantity of LPARs may be provisioned.LPARs are assigned a subset of a computer's physical hardware resources320 (i.e., a subset of the hardware underlying the computer/serverenvironment) and are virtualized within the computer/server environmentas a separate computer/virtual machine. Resources such as processorcapacity, memory, or any other type of resource may be assigned to aparticular LPAR. Each LPAR has its own virtual operating system (OS)instance (e.g., operating systems 322, 324, 326 and 328 in respectiveLPARs 320312, 314, 316 and 318), application programs (e.g.,application(s) 330, 332, 334 and 336 in respective LPARs 312, 314, 316and 318) and/or associated files, allowing for multiple operatingsystems to be simultaneously executing within the servercomputer/environment.

Logical partitioning is facilitated by logic or software 338 (a“hypervisor”) that controls the computer system's hardware and monitorsthe operating systems of the LPARs. For example, hypervisor 338 maycomprise software, logic and/or executable code for performing variousfunctions as described herein (e.g., residing as software and/or analgorithm running on a processor unit). Hypervisor 338 operates at alevel between the logical partition operating systems level andcomputer/server system physical hardware resources 320. Hypervisor 338may run directly on the computer system's hardware or within aconventional operating system environment, depending upon theimplementation.

In the illustrated embodiment, physical resources 320 include a numberof integrated circuits (ICs), chips or processing nodes 340, 342, 344and 346. The quantity and/or types of physical resources may vary. Inthe illustrated embodiment, each respective node 340, 342, 344 and 346includes a memory 348, 350, 352 and 354 and a processor 356, 358, 360and 362. Each processor 356, 358, 360 and 362 may comprise one or moreprocessor cores. For example, processor 356 includes cores 364 ₁-364 ₂,processor 358 includes cores 366 ₁-366 ₂, processor 360 includes cores368 ₁-368 ₂, and processor 362 includes cores 370 ₁-370 ₂. It should beunderstood that the quantity of cores for any particular node may vary.Nodes 340, 342, 344 and 346 (or components thereof) may comprise ashared physical resource pool (e.g., as to processors 356, 358, 360 and362, a shared processor pool). The shared pool of physical resourcesenables a system or apparatus to assign whole and/or partial resourcesto a logical partition. For example, physical processors 356, 358, 360and 362 may be configured as a processing pool such that processors 356,358, 360 and 362 (as well as their respective cores) are shared amongnumerous logical partitions (e.g., LPARs 312, 314, 316 and 318).

Logical partitions may be assigned virtual resources which may compriselogical entities backed up by corresponding physical entities. Forexample, logical partitions may be assigned virtual processors which aredepictions of physical processors (e.g., processors 356, 358, 360 and362) that are presented to the operating system of the respectivepartition. The types of physical resources that may be virtualized mayvary. With respect to virtual processors, each virtual processor mayrepresent a processing capacity (e.g., a processing unit) of a physicalprocessor. The processing capacity represented by a virtual processormay be the entire processing capacity of a physical processor or aportion thereof. In the illustrated embodiment, each LPAR 312, 314, 316and 318 has assigned thereto a number of virtual processors. Forexample, LPAR 312 includes virtual processors (VP₁-VP₄) 372 ₁-372 ₄.Similarly, LPAR 314 includes virtual processors (VP₁-VP₄) 374 ₁-374 ₄,LPAR 316 includes virtual processors (VP₁-VP₄) 376 ₁-376 ₄, and LPAR 318includes virtual processors (VP₁-VP₄) 378 ₁-378 ₄. The number of virtualprocessors assigned to a particular partition and/or an overallcomputing platform may vary.

In some embodiments, LPARs can be configured to have a certainentitlement capacity or entitled resources representing a guaranteedphysical resource capacity for the LPAR. For example, LPAR 312 includesfour virtual processors and may have a core entitlement of two such thata two-core processing capacity is guaranteed for LPAR 312. Because thecores may be allocated from a shared processor pool, hypervisor 338allocates core processing capacity from the shared processor pool asneeded, which means the cores provided to LPAR 312 to meet itsentitlement may also be used by other LPARs. In an uncapped mode ofoperation, if LPAR 312 requires additional processing capacity beyondits entitlement, hypervisor 338 may allocate additional cores from theshared processor pool (if available).

Generally, there are multiple storage levels a core may access such asprocessor caches (L1, L2, L3, etc.), memory (RAM), and disk storage.Further, within each storage level there may be multiple levels ofaffinity (e.g., determined by the distance between a core and the memoryit accesses). The first level of affinity may comprise a memory locatedon the same chip as the core. A next level of affinity may refer tomemory located on a neighbor chip, etc. Because the cores in a sharedprocessor pool may be shared by any LPAR, the core allocated to a LPARmay not be located in its first affinity level. For example, hypervisor338 may allocate and/or assign memory 348 to LPAR 312. If hypervisorthereafter allocates core 364 ₁ or 364 ₂ to any of virtual processors372 ₁-372 ₄, a first level affinity is maintained to memory 348.However, if hypervisor 338 assigns a core from one of nodes 342, 344 or346, second, third or lower affinity levels result from a respectivecore on nodes 342, 344 or 346 accessing memory 348 on node 340, therebyimpacting performance of the workloads running on the LPARs. Embodimentsof the present disclosure improve affinity levels to physical resourcesutilized by LPARs to thereby increase performance.

In the illustrated embodiment, hypervisor 338 includes priority logic380 for prioritizing various virtual resources and mapping theprioritized virtual resources to certain physical resources such thateach LPAR is preferably given physical resources at lower/closeraffinity levels. In the illustrative embodiment, the present disclosureis described in the context of memory affinity to physical processors;however, it should be understood that embodiments of the presentdisclosure may be applied to other types of virtual and physicalresources (e.g., input/output (I/O) shared resources). Priority logic380 may comprise software, logic and/or executable code for performingvarious functions as described herein (e.g., residing as software and/oran algorithm running on a processor unit). Priority logic 380prioritizes virtual resources based on a partition's entitlement andbased on uncapped virtual resources that may be utilized for excesscapacity beyond the partition's entitlement. Priority logic 380 alsomaps the prioritized virtual resources to certain physical resources(e.g., those physical resources with a desired affinity level to acorresponding or related physical resource) such that the prioritizationis used to preferably allocate the mapped physical resources to theprioritized virtual resources and/or preempt the use of the mappedphysical resources by virtual resources from another virtual machine.

Priority logic 380 is used to assign entitlement virtual resources(e.g., a set of virtual resources up to a maximum of the partition'sentitlement) of an LPAR a higher priority than the virtual resourcesthat may use excess capacity resources from the shared pool. Forexample, consider that the entitlement of LPAR 312 is two cores, andeach virtual processor 372 ₁-372 ₄ of LPAR 312 represents a full corecapacity. In this example, virtual processor 372 ₁ and 372 ₂ (i.e., upto two virtual processors based on a two core entitlement) may be givena higher priority level than virtual processors 372 ₃ and 374 ₄. Virtualprocessors 372 ₃ and 374 ₄ may represent virtual resources that may useexcess resource capacity in an uncapped mode beyond the two coreentitlement of LPAR 312. Priority logic 380 also designates and/orotherwise assigns the higher priority virtual resources a “home” node(i.e., a preferred physical resource location). In the illustratedembodiment, consider that memory 348 of node 340 has been allocated toLPAR 312. Because of the first level affinity of cores 364 ₁ and 364 ₂to memory 348, hypervisor 338 may assign node 340 as the “home” node forthe prioritized virtual resources (e.g., virtual processor 372 ₁ and 372₂) of LPAR 312. Thus, priority logic 380 is used to map certain physicalresources (such as cores 364 ₁ and 364 ₂) to the higher priority virtualresources (up to the LPAR's entitlement) that provide a desired affinitylevel. In this example, two priority levels are described; however, itshould be understood that a greater number of priority levels may beused and certain physical resources at different affinity levels may bemapped to corresponding virtual resources based on such priorities.Further, in this example, the entitlement capacity equals the resourcecapacity available from a single node. However, it should be understoodthat in some instances, the entitlement capacity may be greater than thephysical resources available from any one node such that there may bephysical resources mapped from more than one node to virtual resourcesof a particular LPAR.

The priorities assigned to the virtual resources are provided to theoperating system of the respective LPAR (e.g., operating system 322 ofLPAR 312). In some embodiments, the operating system of the respectiveLPAR is configured to dispatch the higher priority virtual resourcesbefore dispatching the lower priority virtual resources (e.g., tomaintain a higher physical resource affinity); however, it should beunderstood that the operating system may be configured to utilize otherscheduling methods for dispatching for virtual resources (e.g., based onworkload priorities, processing length, completion deadlines, etc.). Inoperation, the operating system dispatches the higher priority virtualresources up to the resource entitlement of the LPAR. Hypervisor 338 mayidentify and/or otherwise determine the home node for the higherpriority virtual resources and determine the availability of thephysical resources mapped to the higher priority virtual resources. Forexample, operating system 322 may dispatch virtual processor 372 ₁ toprocess a workload (e.g., from one of applications 330). Hypervisor 338may determine and/or otherwise identify the priority level assigned tovirtual processor 372 ₁, determine and/or otherwise identify the homenode for virtual processor 372 ₁ (e.g., node 340), and allocate physicalresources from the home node for virtual processor 372 ₁, (e.g., core364 ₁ or 364 ₂). If all prioritized or higher priority virtual resourceshave been dispatched (e.g., both virtual processors 372 ₁ and 372 ₂),operating system 322 may thereafter dispatch the lower priority virtualresources (e.g., virtual processors 372 ₃ and 372 ₄). Hypervisor 338 mayallocate physical resources to virtual processors 372 ₃ and 372 ₄ (whichrepresent virtual processors in excess of the entitlement capacity ofLPAR 312) from the shared physical resource pool 320. For example,depending on availability, hypervisor 338 may assign core 368 ₁ tovirtual processor 372 ₃ and core 370 ₁ to virtual processor 372 ₄.

Priority logic 380 may also be used to preempt virtual resources basedon the priorities assigned to the various virtual resources. Forexample, in some embodiments, if physical resources mapped to highpriority virtual resources are being used by low priority virtualresources of another virtual machine, the lower priority virtualresources may be preempted to enable the high priority virtual resourcesmapped to such physical resources access to such physical resources. Forexample, consider that LPAR 314 also has a two core entitlement and thatvirtual processors 374 ₁ and 374 ₂ have been assigned a higher prioritylevel than virtual processors 374 ₃ and 374 ₄. Node 342 may bedesignated as the home node for virtual processors 374 ₁ and 374 ₂because memory 350 has been assigned/allocated to LPAR 314. In thisexample, consider that the priority levels are the same across LPARs 312and 314 (e.g., such that the priority levels for virtual processors 372₁, 372 ₂, 374 ₁ and 374 ₂ are the same, and that the priority level ofvirtual processors 372 ₃, 372 ₄, 374 ₃ and 374 ₄ are the same, and thatthe priority level of virtual processors 372 ₁, 372 ₂, 374 ₁ and 374 ₂is higher than the priority level of virtual processors 372 ₃, 372 ₄,374 ₃ and 374 ₄).

In this example, cores 366 ₁ and 366 ₂ have been allocated to virtualprocessors 374 ₁ and 374 ₂. Because of excess workload by LPAR 314,virtual processors 374 ₃ and/or 374 ₄ may have been dispatched byoperating system 324, and hypervisor 338 has allocated physicalresources from node 340 (e.g., core 364 ₁ and/or 364 ₂) as uncappedshared pool resources available to LPAR 314 (e.g., core 364 ₁ and/or 364₂ is currently available due to a light workload level in LPAR 312). Ifoperating system 322 dispatches virtual processor 372 ₁ and/or virtualprocessor 372 ₂ (which have been mapped to cores 364 ₁ and 364 ₂),hypervisor 338 may evaluate the availability of cores 364 ₁ and/or 364 ₂and, in response to determining that cores 364 ₁ and/or 364 ₂ have beenallocated to virtual resources of another virtual machine as uncappedexcess resources or allocated to virtual resources having a lowerpriority (e.g., virtual processors 374 ₃ and/or 374 ₄) than the priorityassigned to virtual processor 372 ₁ and/or virtual processor 372 ₂,hypervisor 338 may preempt virtual processors 374 ₃ and/or 374 ₄ fromcores 364 ₁ and/or 364 ₂ to enable access to core 364 ₁ and/or 364 ₂ byvirtual processor 372 ₁ and/or virtual processor 372 ₂. Thus, the lowerpriority level virtual resources are preempted from utilizing physicalresources that have been mapped to higher priority virtual resources ifneeded by such higher priority virtual resources. If preempted,hypervisor 338 may re-assign the preempted virtual resources to otherphysical resources available from the resource pool (e.g., re-assignvirtual processor 374 ₃ to core 370 ₁ if available).

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method forhybrid virtual machine configuration management. The method begins atblock 402, where priority logic 380 is used to assign a high prioritylevel to virtual resources of a LPAR up to the entitlement capacity ofthe LPAR. At block 404, priority logic 380 is used to assign a lowerpriority level to virtual resources of the LPAR that may use excessentitlement capacity resources from the shared resource pool. At block406, hypervisor 338 identifies a home node for the high priority virtualresources (e.g., based on a desired or best affinity level to particularphysical resources). At block 408, hypervisor 338 assigns the highpriority virtual resources to the determined home node. At block 410,hypervisor 338 maps physical resources (e.g., cores) with a desiredaffinity level to another physical resource(s) (e.g., memory) to thehigh priority virtual resources. At block 412, hypervisor 338communicates the assigned priority level information to the operatingsystem of the LPAR.

At block 414, the operating system of the LPAR dispatches a virtualresource to a workload. At block 416, hypervisor identifies the prioritylevel of the dispatched virtual resource. At decisional block 418, adecision is made whether the dispatched virtual resource has a high orlow priority level. If the dispatched virtual resource has a lowpriority level, the method proceeds to block 420, where hypervisor 338allocates an available physical resource from the pool of sharedphysical resources. If it is determined at block 418 that the dispatchedvirtual resource has a high priority level, the method proceeds to block422, where hypervisor 338 determines the home node of the virtualresource. At block 424, hypervisor 338 identifies mapped physicalresources for the high priority virtual resource.

At decisional block 426, a determination is made whether the physicalresources mapped to the high priority virtual resource is available. Ifthe mapped resource is unavailable (e.g., being utilized as an uncappedexcess shared resource by another virtual machine), the method proceedsto block 428, where hypervisor 338 preempts the current virtual resourcefrom the mapped physical resource. The method then proceeds to block430. If at decisional block 426 it is determined that the mappedphysical resource is available, the method proceeds to block 430, wherehypervisor 338 allocates the mapped physical resource to the highpriority virtual resource. At block 432, hypervisor 338 reallocatesphysical resources from the shared physical resource pool to thepreempted virtual resource.

Thus, embodiments of the present disclosure enable better affinitylevels to be maintained to physical resources in a shared resource poolenvironment. Embodiments of the present disclosure utilize aprioritization scheme to assign a higher priority to entitlement virtualresources than to virtual resources utilizing uncapped excess resourcesof the pool. Physical resources having a desired or greatest affinitylevel to a physical resource of interest are mapped to the high priorityvirtual resources. In response to the dispatch of a high priorityvirtual resource, a physical resource allocation preference is given tothe high priority virtual resource over a virtual resource that may beutilizing the mapped physical resource in an uncapped, shared mode.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure.As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of allmeans or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended toinclude any structure, material, or act for performing the function incombination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. Thedescription of the present disclosure has been presented for purposes ofillustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive orlimited to the disclosure in the form disclosed. Many modifications andvariations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the artwithout departing from the scope and spirit of the disclosure. Theembodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the disclosure and the practical application, and toenable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the disclosurefor various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: assigning to a first set ofvirtual resources of a virtual machine a first priority, wherein thefirst set of virtual resources are entitled virtual resources for thevirtual machine; assigning to a second set of virtual resources of thevirtual machine a second priority lower than the first priority, whereinthe first and seconds sets of virtual resources when combined exceed theentitled resources for the virtual machine; mapping the first set ofvirtual resources to a first physical resource of a pool of sharedphysical resources, the pool of shared physical resources allocatable tothe first and second sets of virtual resources, wherein the firstphysical resource comprises a desired affinity level to a secondphysical resource allocated to the virtual machine; and preferentiallyallocating the first physical resource to the first set of virtualresources over the second set of virtual resources.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising including virtual resources of the virtualmachine up to the entitled resources of the virtual machine in the firstset of virtual resources.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprisingproviding to an operating system running on the virtual machine priorityinformation for the virtual resources of the first and second sets ofvirtual resources.
 4. The method of claim 3, further comprisingdispatching, by the operating system, virtual resources from the firstset of virtual resources before dispatching virtual resources from thesecond set of virtual resources.
 5. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: responsive receiving a request to allocate the firstphysical resource to a virtual resource of the first set of virtualresources, determining if the first physical resource has been allocatedto a virtual resource of another virtual machine; and responsive todetermining that the first physical resource has been allocated to thevirtual resource of the another virtual machine, preempting the virtualresource of the another virtual machine from the first physical resourceto enable utilization of the first physical resource by the virtualresource of the first set of virtual resources.
 6. The method of claim1, further comprising: responsive receiving a request to allocate thefirst physical resource to a virtual resource of the first set ofvirtual resources, determining if the first physical resource has beenallocated to a virtual resource of another virtual machine; responsiveto determining that the first physical resource has been allocated tothe virtual resource of the another virtual machine, determining apriority level of the virtual resource of the another virtual machine;and responsive to determining that the priority level of the virtualresource of the another virtual machine is lower than the firstpriority, preempting the virtual resource from the another virtualmachine to enable utilization of the first physical resource by thevirtual resource of the first set of virtual resources.